The South Funen Archipelago

What the archipelago is

Chris Carr, writing in Yachting Monthly in August 2025, gives the Danish island total as about 1,400, 409 of them named and 70 populated, formed by the sea-level rise after the last Ice Age. He calls these waters some of the most attractive and well sheltered in Denmark and notes that there is only a very small tidal range but still some current to look out for in narrow channels. The cruising centres are Svendborg and Faaborg on Funen, Aeroskobing and Marstal on Aero, and the small islands such as Lyo, Avernako and Bjorno.

For an owner this is a different problem from the Channel Islands or the Mediterranean. Nothing here is a tidal gate and almost every harbour is within a morning's sail of another: VisitFaaborg lists Faaborg to Bjorno as about 3 nautical miles, Bjorno to Lyo 6, Lyo to Avernako 5 and Avernako back to Faaborg 9 via Svelmo, roughly 23 nautical miles for the loop. The constraint is size and depth, not weather: the harbours and anchorages described below are built for boats of 15 metres and under.

What it costs to berth

Svendborg Kommune's Takstoversigt Budget 2026, tabled for first reading on 16 September 2025 and so a proposal subject to final approval, lists guest-sailor rates per night in the Svendborg Gaestehavn of DKK 270 up to 9 metres, 310 for 9 to 12, 370 for 12 to 15, 420 for 15 to 20, 540 for 20 to 25, 765 for 25 to 30 and 1,220 above 30 metres, with multihulls paying an additional 50 per cent. In the Svendborg Lystbadehavn (Rundet) and Rantzausminde the 2026 figures are DKK 255, 285, 325 and 385 for the same first four bands, then 535 for 20 to 25 and 765 for 25 to 30 metres. Booking a place carries a fee: DKK 330 for a booking or reservation, and the marina booking line is DKK 485 for a small berth and DKK 655 for a large one.

The same document shows the 2025 figures, so you can see the year-on-year change: the 12 to 15 metre guest rate rises from DKK 360 to 370 (2.78 per cent), the 20 to 25 metre rate from 525 to 540. An Aero municipal agenda says Svendborg is markedly higher than its own harbours on guest rates and that Faaborg is a bit lower but without electricity and bath, but the actual Aero and Faaborg 2026 prices were not found; ask the harbour. The smaller islands run a self-service system: Bjorno's mooring place is DKK 75 a night with free electricity and water, according to VisitFaaborg.

Almost no tide, a published tariff and a harbour within a morning's sail of every other: the easy ground, with a rule that you arrive before 14:00.

Svendborg, Faaborg and Aeroskobing: where you tie up

VisitFaaborg says Faaborg Harbour has about 650 berths of which 75 are dedicated to guests, is sheltered from all wind directions and is a few minutes' walk from the town centre. Four berths can be booked in advance through MarinaBooking for DKK 75, reserved arrivals come 12:00 to 17:00 and departure is by 12:00, and unreserved spaces are first come, first served, with an arrival before 14:00 recommended in high season. Facilities include showers and toilets on a chip system, electricity and water at the berths, laundry, free wifi, cranes and a pump-out. Carr found the northern yacht harbour had alongside berths on an outside pontoon, with showers, a restaurant and a bar and the town under 10 minutes' walk.

At Svendborg, Carr says the North Harbour has a long jetty with many alongside berths and plenty of space at 14:15, behind the former Frederikso shipyard on a man-made island, and that the Svendborgsund road bridge has 33 metres of clearance (he does not give the opening schedule). At Aeroskobing he describes the yacht harbour as reached through the narrow Mollegabet channel, with spaces tight, 25 knots of wind on the day, and advice to ask the harbourmaster about larger spaces at the north end. For an owner of a bigger boat, ask by email what the alongside length limit is at each harbour before sailing there; the published guest bands go up to 30 metres at Svendborg only.

The small islands: Lyo, Avernako and Bjorno

VisitFaaborg says Lyo Harbour has about 85 guest berths, can be entered day and night in clear visibility, has an unmarked entrance and a ferry berth that must not be used. In peak season afternoon availability is limited; its advice is to arrive early, or anchor at Revkrog and enter the next morning. Avernako Harbour has about 25 guest berths with an arrival before 14:00 recommended in summer, and the page suggests Korshavn on the east coast as a quieter alternative. Svelmo is uninhabited and privately owned, and you may sail past it but not land.

VisitDenmark's page on Korshavn Bro says mooring is free in a midday window, with standard fees outside it and a 50 per cent surcharge when payment is collected at the quay, so pay through the self-service system. The Avernako marina entrance is, according to SeaMe's listing of a marina guide, privately buoyed and prone to silting, with guest berths at about 2.4 metres. A boat drawing more than that should phone before approaching.

Anchoring: twelve bays

Krauss, writing in August 2024, reports that harbours in these islands are often full in summer, which is why he picks bays. At Thurobund, approach in daylight only; it is well sheltered except in westerlies, with about 4.5 metres in the north and 3 metres further east, partly weedy bottom. Lunkebugten is open to the north, three miles south of Thurobund, with a warning not to anchor too close to land off Valdemar Castle because it is very shallow. At Revkrog on Aero, depths run up to 11 metres, anchor at 4 to 7 metres on mostly sand with some stones, with good protection except in north-westerlies, and Aeroskobing is about 1 kilometre away.

At Lyo the roadstead west of the harbour is 2 to 5 metres, sandy and partly weedy, with leeward protection from the north-west to south. Krauss also lists Helnaes Bugt, entered by a buoyed passage with a shallowest point of about 2.3 metres, and Dyvig, which he calls a summer anchoring hotspot, often crowded and quieter on weekdays, entered through the narrow Steglob dredged channel at 3 metres. For a boat drawing 1.75 metres, as Carr's Bavaria 46 did, all of these are workable; for a deeper boat, the charted depth is the number to trust, because Krauss warns that Toro in the Little Belt tends to silt up.

Rules and the new Danish regulation

The summary found in this research says the Danish Maritime Authority regulation, numbered 33140 in the Official Gazette of 17 January 2026, enters into force on 17 July 2026 and updates the amateur seafarer certificate system, training and examination, and the principles for the use and equipment of pleasure craft. The text found does not say what changes for a visiting yacht, and only the Danish version has legal force, so a foreign skipper should read the DMA notice before the season. An older ADAC guide says no skipper qualification is required for low-power pleasure craft and that each person on board must carry a CE-certified lifejacket.

The same guide says there are no charges to navigate Danish waterways and that most harbours charge for berthing, which matches the tariff above. Not found in this research: Danish holding-tank discharge rules, the Danish harbour guest-card systems in use and the opening times of the Svendborgsund bridge. These are real gaps, and an owner should confirm them with the harbour before a first visit.

Für wen: An owner of a boat up to about 15 metres, drawing under 2 metres, who wants easy short hops, published prices and anchorages with sand and weed, not a larger yacht that needs deep alongside berths and a full-service marina.